Once considered Latin America’s gold standard for pandemic management, Uruguay has seen a massive surge of coronavirus cases in 2021. This week, the tiny nation south of Brazil posted the highest seven-day average of new daily deaths per capita in the entire region.
The sad milestone was reached after the country reported 48 new casualties on Sunday, giving Uruguay a death rate of 15.91 per million people, according to data platform Our World in Data. Brazil’s rate sits at 14.7.
So far, 6 percent of Uruguay’s 3.5 million inhabitants are fully vaccinated with two jabs as of today, double the rate of immunized individuals in Brazil. Regardless, the country reported more deaths last week than the entirety of 2020. ICU occupancy rates have also reached 80 percent.
President Luis Lacalle Pou admitted a third vaccine shot could be required to contain the spread of the virus, something Chile is also considering.
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